German neoliberalism persisted through institutional infrastructure even as the theory was forgotten.

Evidence

While the diagnosis of a revival or a comeback of ordoliberalism or German neoliberalism in economic policy might hold in the European or maybe even the international context, in the next section I will argue that it is misleading to claim such a “return thesis” for Germany. Although ordoliberalism as an independent economic theory might, in fact, have been “marginalized and thus forgotten,” the infrastructures of German neoliberalism, such as politico-economic think tanks, political institutions, and economic research institutes, remained an influential vehicle for the discursive hegemony of German neoliberalism in German economic policies. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 618

Categorization

• SEED: A potential essay angle: how movements outlive themselves institutionally — power persisting through think tanks and institutes even after the doctrine loses intellectual prestige.
• XREF: Connects to Foucault’s lectures on governmentality and to scholarly debates distinguishing ordoliberalism as a school vs. a policy regime. — connects to: Neoliberalism can be studied despite mutating by tracking its institutions, members, and texts — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 144; Neoliberalism’s 1980s breakthrough rested on decades of prior institutional groundwork — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 128

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism can be studied despite mutating by tracking its institutions, members, and texts #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 144
• Neoliberalism’s 1980s breakthrough rested on decades of prior institutional groundwork #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 128